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and Sharon Coolidge

Ben Jescke, firearm examiner in the crime lab at the Hamilton County Coroner's Office in Corryville. / The Enquirer/joseph fuqua ii

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Hamilton County and Cincinnati authorities are deep in discussions they believe can solve long-simmering space issues for at least three crime-fighting agencies.

If successful, the negotiations will result in one building to house the Hamilton County coroner’s morgue and crime lab as well as a combined evidence room for the area’s two largest police agencies. That would free up space to add hundreds more beds to the jail.

The greatest obstacle, as with most governments, is money.

“It just makes sense,” Sheriff Jim Neil said, noting that the idea is in a very preliminary stage. “There’s a lot of interest on every side.”

He’s talking to Cincinnati police about a combined evidence room. And to Coroner Lakshmi Kode Sammarco about sharing the same building with the morgue and crime lab.

Sammarco has been vital in talking to private businesses, including Mercy Health, the group that could provide the Mercy Mount Airy hospital buiding as the site. It could become available because this year it is merging with the Mercy Health Western Hills Hospital and moving to a new hospital on North Bend Road near Interstate 74 in Green Township.

Sammarco said it is one of at least six sites being considered, but admitted talks about acquiring that building already have been made. “There is an understanding that it would be a very attractive deal for the county,” Sammarco said. “They are willing to be very generous.”

Such a move would:

• Solve long-term the coroner’s issue: an outdated building that needs more space and employees so it can do drug, ballistic and other crime-related testing for regional police agencies.

“We all know our office has been plagued with space issues and (evidence-testing) backlogs,” Sammarco said. “We need more people but where would we put them? They’re on top of each other now.”

• Increase the number of Hamilton County Justice Center beds by 200 to house more inmates charged with felonies or with special and mental health needs.

With the combined evidence room, Neil would use the space vacated at the Justice Center for more beds. He believes the move could increase the number of beds in the sheriff’s three facilities from 1,400 to 1,600.

“That will add a couple hundred beds without any use of brick of mortar,” Neil said.

Commissioners have long looked at ways to create needed jail space, but haven’t been able to come up with the cash. Voters have twice shot down sales tax hikes to build one.

None of that will happen, though, if there is no money to convert the building for those needs.

“There is definitely a need to address the space issues that the coroner is facing as well as the need for a crime lab with the increase in DNA processing,” Hamilton County Commissioner Chris Monzel said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to make sure we have the facilities in place to fight crime in Cincinnati, but also be cost-effective to taxpayers.”

Sammarco believes it will cost “half or less” than the $53 million a study last year noted was needed to remodel the coroner’s office to address her concerns. Other county officials believe it will cost $50 million to renovate the building to meet the needs of all three agencies.

“We want the most economical, where it makes the most sense and have a building we can occupy for 40 or 50 years, not a Band-Aid for five years,” Sammarco said.

How to pay for all of the renovations, though, hasn’t been answered.

County Administrator Christian Sigman admits the current coroner’s office is “past its prime in needs, space and technology.”

He supports looking at options, but said reconfiguring old buildings can be just as costly as building new.

“Very careful due diligence is required when repurposing buildings for such unique needs,” Signman said. “It could ultimately cost more to reinvent a decades-old hospital than to build a new one.” ■